World Vision Australia

History

World Vision Australia was founded in 1966 after a proposal to start a new office in Australia by Bernard Barron, the head of World Vision Canada, and after startup funds were provided by the headquarters of World Vision in the United States. Greame Irvine, an evangelical Christian, was at the head of the Australian branch of World Vision. The first project of World Vision Australia was related to Vietnam.

The head of World Vision Australia, Greame Irvine, was 1978 also among the signers of the Declaration of Internationalization, which declared a set of objectives for World Vision and also defined a Statement of Faith that corresponds to the Statement of Faith put forward by the American National Association of Evangelicals as standard for their evangelical convictions as the theological frame in which World Vision International and its national offices like World Vision Australia have to operate. Greame Irvine became 1988 the first non-American president of World Vision International.

World Vision Australia, like the whole World Vision organization, began in the 1970s with development work instead of mainly emergency relief as before. Like all other members of the World Vision Partnership it is committed to the concept of transformational development, which is cast in a biblical framework and in which evangelization is an inseparable integral part of development work. Greame Irvine gives as an example for transformational development the change in an indonesian village where after development work malnutrition had disappeared and everyone had become a believer in Jesus Christ, including the former witch doctor, who presented a bowl with ashes in it where he had burned his idols and fetishes.

Fundraising and Focus

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) provides government funding for World Vision Australia. In the 2003/2004 year World Vision received $16 million from AusAID, including $1.7 million classified for use in emergency relief. World Vision Australia is approved for tax deductibility.

World Vision also receives support from United Nations agencies such as the World Food Programme, UNICEF and UNHCR (responsible for children and refugees).

World Vision’s main focus is the well-being of children, and it uses child sponsorship for fundraising. Sponsorship links donors to specific children overseas and the sponsor makes a long term commitment to contribute to community programs that benefit that child, the child’s family and the community. Programs focus on education, health and nutrition, and can also include agriculture, adult literacy and income generation.

The "40 Hour Famine" is a fund-raising scheme in which Australians, especially the young, find out what it’s like to go without food for 40 hours. Schools and churches support of the famine and participants ask others to sponsor them. Money raised in the 40 Hour Famine in 2002 has helped people in countries such as India, Cambodia and Afghanistan.

Worldwide Focus

When a disaster strikes, World Vision staff claims to be on the scene within 72 hours, bringing food and supplies. World Vision responds to rapid and slow onset natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and droughts; man-made disasters such as conflicts and war and humanitarian emergencies caused by factors such as political, social and economic, that can be across a single country or a group of countries.

"Twice As Green" is an initiative that funds programs working with communities to help them adapt to changing landscapes. It enables projects such as revegetation, restoration of barren land, sustainable farming and greenhouse gas reduction.

World Vision advocates for government policies against human trafficking for sexual slavery and forced labor. "Child Rescue" reaches out to children who are struggling to survive in difficult situations, beyond the reach of child sponsorship. They may be homeless, orphaned, or recently escaped from a brothel or factory, or be victims of human trafficking and slavery. Child Rescue aims to help free vulnerable children from suffering, exploitation and abuse and provides them with the support.

"Water Health Life" tackles problems with dirty water sources that can lead to diseases such as diarrhoea and bilharzia, with various practical solutions such as sinking wells and drilling boreholes.

World Vision Australia has been criticised for funding a soccer field in Jenin in the West Bank that was named after a former militant PLO leader.

Australia

World Vision provides a range of educational resources on its website, including general topic sheets and classroom materials for primary and secondary levels.

Together with AusAID and the International Women's Development Agency World Vision Australia organises "One Just World", a national series of free, after-work forums aimed at involving the Australian community in debate on key international development issues facing Australia and the world.

World Vision encourages supporters to lobby the Australian government on issues such as campaigns against landmines, child labour, child soldiers and debt.

World Vision Australia works together with the Parliament by regularly writing submissions.

Australian Indigenous Programs

In 1979 Aboriginal church leaders approached World Vision to assist with leadership development in their communities. In 2009, World Vision worked with indigenous communities in primary health care, education and business development. One resulting project from 1996 to 2010 was the Birrung Gallery, an initiative by which artworks are purchased for a fair price from Aboriginal artists and then sold at exhibitions, providing training in marketing for indigenous people, and funds for community programs. The Linking Hands program is an avenue for Australians to help fund the work that World Vision does with indigenous Australians.

Partnerships

First of all World Vision Australia is member of the World Vision Partnership.

World Vision Australia is a full member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and is a signatory to ACFID’s Code of Conduct, which defines the minimum standards of governance, management and accountability for development NGOs. It works in cooperation with other government and non-government agencies in Australia and overseas. In addition to AusAID funding, World Vision Australia makes submissions regarding government policies relating to aid and development.

The organisation works with local and overseas churches, and with organisations such as the World Health Organisation, UNHCR and UNICEF. World Vision Australia also collaborates with Oxfam.

World Vision Ambassadors

In 2005, Guy Sebastian was appointed an Ambassador for World Vision Australia. In August of that year he visited Uganda to film a documentary An Idol in Africa for a Network Ten television special. The program highlighted the issues of poverty and civil war and its effect on the population. During the making of the documentary Sebastian visited a rehabilitation centre for former child soldiers in Gulu, Uganda, and also met children who had been orphaned by HIV and Aids. Sebastian stated his African journey helped put his own life back into perspective. The program was broadcast on 3 December 2005, and repeated on 24 December 2005.

Sebastian continued his involvement with World Vision Australia, supporting the Child Rescue program and has supported the 40 Hour Famine. He has also been involved in the Make Poverty History coalition of which World Vision is a part.

Allegations of funding a terrorism-related organisation

In July 2016, Mohammad El Halabi, manager of World Vision in Gaza was arrested at the Erez border crossing and charged by Israeli prosecutors with channeling funds to Hamas, a listed terror organization. A senior official with Shin Bet (Israel's internal security agency,) stated that Halabi was recruited by the military wing of Hamas 2004, and instructed to penetrate World Vision. The allegations have been questioned by World Vision Australia which states that the alleged misappropriated amount exceeds their total Gaza expenditure over the last decade.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade immediately suspended all funding of Palestinian programs by World Vision. World Vision Australia chief executive, Tim Costello, accepted this move as being the correct thing to do pending a proper investigation of the allegations.